Best PlacesSawyer County, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Sawyer County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Sawyer County ranks 1,456th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low disaster risk by a wide margin, and empty homes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Sawyer County
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
Sawyer County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Sawyer County ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 98% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than 93% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than 91% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 90% of counties
- Healthcare accessBetter than 90% of counties
Where Sawyer County ranks low
- Low vacancyBetter than only 6% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than only 10% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 16% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than only 16% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than only 23% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Sawyer County
A household needs to earn about $65,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Sawyer County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $62,551; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Sawyer County's effective rate of 0.78%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Sawyer County
Sawyer County runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Sawyer County.
Who works in Sawyer County, and how
Work in Sawyer County centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Sawyer County
Sawyer County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 83% of counties and more parkland per resident than 98% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Sawyer County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Sawyer County growing, and who is moving in?
Sawyer County has grown about 15% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Minneapolis, MN.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Sawyer County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Sawyer County, month by month
Sawyer County sees roughly 115 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 24, with lows near 7. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 24° | 15° | 7° |
| April | 52° | 40° | 30° |
| July | 81° | 68° | 56° |
| October | 56° | 46° | 37° |
Flying in and out of Sawyer County
The nearest airport, Gogebic/Iron County, is about 71 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 117 miles away.
The best schools in and around Sawyer County
Schools across Sawyer County average a C+, better than 47% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Glidden ElementaryA+ · 75% proficient
- Birchwood ElementaryB · 48% proficient
- Hayward IntermediateB · 45% proficient
Top middle schools
- Bruce MiddleB+ · 48% proficient
- Hayward MiddleC+ · 39% proficient
- Birchwood MiddleC+ · 37% proficient
Top high schools
- Hayward HighC · 33% proficient
- Winter HighD+ · 25% proficient
- Birchwood HighD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Sawyer County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Sawyer County measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Sawyer County against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Sawyer County
Is Sawyer County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Sawyer County ranks 1,456th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on low disaster risk, tree cover, and clean air, and lowest on empty homes and cell coverage. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Sawyer County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $249,170. The overall cost of living runs about 7% below the national average. Set against a $62,551 median income, cost of living beats 23% of counties.
Is Sawyer County safe?
Sawyer County is safer than 35% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $396 per resident a year.
Compare Sawyer County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Sawyer County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Sawyer County represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Sawyer County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Sawyer County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Sawyer County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Sawyer County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Sawyer County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Sawyer County detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.